Fictions Mentioned:
Episode 1
Insert Song: Start
Tron Legacy - Soundtrack OST - 08 The Game Has Changed - Daft Punk
A huge castle made of stone and steel floating in an endless sky. That was all this world was.
It took a varied group of craftsmen one month to survey the place; the diameter of the base floor was about 10 kilometers—large enough that the entirety of Setagaya-ku would fit on it. Above, there were 100 floors stacked directly on top of each other; its sheer size was unbelievable. It was impossible to even guess how much data it consisted of. Inside, there were a couple of large cities, countless small towns and villages, forests, plains, and even lakes. Only one stairway linked each floor to another, and the stairways were in dungeons where large numbers of monsters roamed, so discovering and getting through was no easy matter. However, once someone broke through and arrived at a city in the higher floor, the Teleport Gates there and in every city in the lower floors would connect, making it possible for anyone to move freely through these levels. Under these conditions, the huge castle had been steadily conquered over two years. The front line was currently on the 74th floor. The name of the castle was Aincrad; a floating world of battles with swords that had engulfed approximately six thousand people. Otherwise known as...
Sword Art Online.
A parallel world turned into a dangerous and unpredictable death game.
It was not a phrase with a precise definition. If it were to be considered as a match involving bodily risks, that would include martial arts, rock climbing and such, even to the extent of motor sports. What separates those dangerous sports with death games is probably just a single condition. That the penalty of death, is clearly stated in the rules. Not as the result of an accidental incident. A coerced death, served as the consequence of the player's mistakes and defeat, or punishment for the violation of rules and other reasons. In short, murder.
With this premise established, the VRMMORPG which became the world's first, Sword Art Online, had now unmistakably become a death game. The game's developer, and as such, the ruler, Akihiko Kayaba, had personally made that clear declaration without the slightest hint of doubt, a mere twenty minutes ago. That if the HP were to reach zero—that is, on defeat, they would be killed. Or if the Nerve Gear were to be removed—that is, to violate the rules, they would also be killed.
It didn't feel real. Not that it should. Countless suspicions still swirled about the mind of the Black Swordsman, even now. But at the same time, his instincts understood. Kayaba's proclamation was completely true. The nature of the stage where SAO takes place, the Floating Castle Aincrad, had changed from a parallel world overflowing with passion and excitement, into a cage of death trapping ten thousand people within. The words uttered by Kayaba at the end of his tutorial earlier—[This situation itself, was my final purpose]; that phrase was likely his absolute true intentions.
That outrageous genius had, merely for the sake of realizing this death game, created SAO... and thus, the Nerve Gear.
Due to that belief, He—the Level 1 Black Swordsman, Kirito, has since been presently running with his life at stake. All by himself, in the middle of the vast grasslands. And trying his best to keep himself alive.
But now his thought lay elsewhere. He thought of the grim warning of illumination that had taken place even before Kayaba had made his announcement. A time before this...
"...Well, I'll log off for a bit. Thanks a lot, Kirito. Be seein' ya."
"Yeah, see you around."
Little did the both of them—Kirito and Klein—realized that something would be amiss. That the parallel world that they would both enjoy would turn into something far more sinister.
Klein stepped back a bit, put his right index and middle fingers together, and pulled downwards. This was the action that opened the main menu window. Immediately afterwards, there was a ringing sound and a shining purple rectangle moved a bit, sat on a rock, and opened his menu too. He started moving his fingers to organize the items that he'd gotten from fighting the boar.
Then...
"Eh?" Klein said in a strange tone. "What's this...? There's no log out button."
Kirito stopped moving my fingers and raised my head at that.
"No button...? No way, look a bit closer," I said, a bit confused.
The Swordsman opened his eyes wide beneath the bandana and pushed his face closer to the menu. The rectangle, wider than it was high, had a bunch of buttons to the left and a silhouette showing what equipment you had on to the right. At the bottom of the menu, there was a LOG OUT button that allowed you to escape from this world. As he was turning my head to the inventory that listed the items he had gained over hours of fighting, Klein started speaking in an unusually high voice.
"It's really not there. You take a look Kirito."
"I told you that there's no way that it's not there..." he muttered with a sigh as I tapped on the button on the top left to go back to the menu screen.
The inventory window on the right closed and the main screen reopened. To the left of the silhouette, which still had quite a lot of empty spaces, there was a long row of buttons. Kirito moved his hand down in a movement that had almost become a habit and...
His body froze. It wasn't here. As Klein had said, the button that had been there during the beta test —no, even right after he'd logged on— had disappeared. He stared at the empty space for a couple of seconds then looked through the menu, making sure that it hadn't just changed its position. Klein looked up with "Right?" written on his face.
"...Not there, right?"
"Yeah, it's not there."
Kirito nodded, although it felt slightly annoying to agree so easily. Klein smiled and started rubbing his thick chin.
"Well, it's the first day so these sort of bugs could occur. Around about now, the GMs should be crying by now from the number of messages flooding in," Klein said calmly.
"Is it all right for you to stand around like that? You said that you ordered some pizza, didn't you?" Kirito asked teasingly.
"Ah, that's right!"
Kirito smiled as he watched him jump around, his eyes wide. Kirito threw away a couple of items that he didn't need from the inventory, which had turned red from having too many items, and then walked over to Klein.
"Argh! My anchovy pizza and ginger ale...!"
"Why don't you call a GM? They might cut you off from their side."
"I tried, but there's no response. It's already 5:25! Hey, Kirito! Isn't there some other way to log out?"
After listening to what Klein, who was waving both arms, said...
Kirito's face became rigid. I felt a groundless fear send a chill down my back.
"Let's see... to log out..." Kirito said while thinking.
To get out of this virtual reality and back to my room, Kirito has to: open the main menu, press the 'Log Out' button, and press 'Yes' on the window that popped up on the right. It was pretty simple. But... at the same time, apart from that procedure, Kirito wasn't aware of any other way of logging off. Kirito looked up at Klein's face, situated quite a bit higher than his own, and shook his head.
"No... there's none. If you want to log yourself off, you have to use the menu. Apart from that, there's no other way."
"That's impossible... there's got to be something!"
Klein suddenly started shouting as if he was denying my statement.
"Return! Log out! Escape!"
But of course, nothing happened. There were no voice commands in SAO of that description. After Klein shouted this and that and even jumped around, Kirito spoke to him.
"Klein, it's useless. Even the manual doesn't have anything on emergency access terminations."
"But... this is just stupid! Even if it's a bug, I can't even go back to my room and my body when I want to!" Klein shouted with a bewildered expression on his face.
Kirito totally agreed with him. This was impossible. It was complete nonsense. But it was indisputably the truth.
"Hey... what is this? It's just really weird. Right now, we can't get out of this game!"
Klein gave a desperate laugh then quickly started talking again.
"Wait, we can just turn the power off. Or just pull the Gear off."
As Kirito watched Klein move his hands as if he was trying to take off some invisible hat, he felt the anxiety returning.
"That's impossible, both of them. Right now, we can't move our bodies... our real bodies. The NerveGear interrupts all the commands that our brain is sending to the body, here…"
Kirito tapped below the back of my head, the medulla oblongata.
"…And converts them to signals to move our avatars."
Klein slowly closed his mouth and put his hands down. They both stood speechless for a while, each lost in thought. To realize the FullDive environment, the NerveGear completely cancels the command signals for moving their bodies that their brain sends down our spinal cord and, in exchange, converts them to signals needed to move their bodies in this world. So however wildly they swing their arm about here, the arm of their real bodies, lying on their beds right now, wouldn't move a bit, ensuring that they wouldn't run into some random corner and bruise themselves. But because of this function, they can't cancel the FullDive of their own free will right now.
"...So unless the bug is fixed or somebody in the real world takes the Gear off, we have to wait it out?" Klein mumbled, still a little dazed.
Kirito silently signaled his agreement.
"But I live by myself. You?"
Kirito hesitated slightly but told him the truth.
"...I live with my mom and my younger sister, a family of three. I think that I'll be forced out of the Dive if I don't come down for dinner..."
"What? H-How old is your sister?"
Klein suddenly looked at Kirito, his eyes sparkling. Kirito simply pushed his head away.
"You're pretty calm right now, aren't you? She's in a sports club and hates games, so she's got nothing in common with people like us... but more than that," I spread my right arm in an attempt to change the subject. "Don't you think it's weird?"
"Well sure. Since it's a bug."
"No, I mean it's not just a bug, it's a can't log out bug. It's a big enough problem to bother the operation of the game itself. Like your pizza in the real world is getting colder every second, it's an actual economical loss, isn't it?"
"...A cold pizza... That's as meaningless as hard natto!"
Kirito ignored these meaningless comments and kept talking.
"If it's like this, the operators should take the server down and log everyone out, whatever the cause. But... it's been 15 minutes since we first noticed this and there hasn't even been a system message, let alone taking the server down. It's just too weird."
"Hmm, now that I think of it, you're right."
Klein started rubbing his chin with a serious expression on his face. In the area beneath the bandana, which covered a little bit of his sharp nose, intelligence sparkled in his eyes. Kirito started listening to Klein, feeling a little strange about talking with someone whom he'd never meet if he erased his own account.
"...The company which created SAO, Argus, is a company that's famous for being considerate of its users, isn't it? That's why everyone was fighting to get their hands on a copy even though it's the first online game. It's sorta meaningless if they screw up like this on their first day."
"I agree. And SAO is the first VRMMORPG. If something goes wrong now, they might pass regulations for the whole genre."
Klein and Kirito looked at each other's virtual faces and sighed. Aincrad's seasons were based on reality, so it was early fall here as well. Kirito looked up, sucking in the virtual air; taking a deep, cold breath. 100 meters away, Kirito could just about see the light purple bottom of the 2nd floor.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Kirito looked in confusion and surprise as he and Klein both noticed something. For Kirito, it almost reminded him of an eerily familiar tune that had electronic music signatures.
The tune felt more like it was a recorded soundtrack well before the availability of commercial synthesisers. Each note was individually created by cutting, splicing, speeding up and slowing down segments of analogue tape containing recordings of a single plucked string, white noise, and the simple harmonic waveforms of test-tone oscillators which were used for calibrating equipment and rooms, not creating music. The main, pulsing bassline rhythm was created from a recording of a single plucked string, played over and over again in different patterns created by splicing copies of the sound, with different pitches and notes achieved by playing the sample in different speeds. The swooping melody and lower bassline layer were created by manually adjusting the pitch of oscillator banks to a carefully timed pattern. The non-swooping parts of the melody were created by playing a keyboard attached to the oscillator banks. The rhythmic hissing sounds, "bubbles" and "clouds", were created by cutting tape recordings of filtered white noise.
"What the? What the hell is that sound?"
Kirito instantly summoned the main menu bar and noticed something odd...and familiar.
"("What?!")" he thought.
He looked and blinked to himself in order to be sure. He was seeing the icon of a blue box.
"...Um, Klein, I'm going to get going for a bit. I need to check something out."
"Wha- Hey wait! Kirito!"
But Kirito ignored Klein's voice and continued walking fast. A few appropriate distances later, he would stop and press the blue box icon. Out came the appearance of a very familiar person in hologram mode.
He had a youthful face that speak of a man in his twenties. He had blue-green eyes that can stare deeply into your soul and make you feel a type of chill that would make even the coldest winter. He had dark brown hair, cut short and stylised as a comb over parted in the right. He wore a light fawn Donegal tweed jacket with elbow patches, a burgundy striped dress shirt and bow tie with matching braces, rolled-up midnight blue trousers, and dark, laced-up boots.
Kirito recognized him.
"Doctor?!"
"Kazuto," the way that the man—the Doctor said his name made whatever it is that Kirito wanted to say stop short and pay close attention. He recognized the tone. It was a tone that Kirito and a few others that he was familiar with grew to know when it concerned the Doctor. "Listen to me, I don't have much time to explain but I need you to listen very carefully. There is something terribly wrong with Sword Art Online but I cannot tell you how, when, and why. All you need to know is that whatever you hear later by the time this conversation is finished, know one thing, I will do everything that I can to help you and the people who are logged in to the game, but not from where you are directly at I'm afraid. The outside world that you left behind is now in a state of panic and people are being rushed into the nearby hospitals. Already in Sword Art Online, you would probably have noticed that there is no LOG OUT button by now, correct? Well, that relates to whatever is happening outside. Remember that when the time comes, when you see the [Warning] and [System Announcement] from the sky and an individual wearing a red hooded robe appears right after, know that the time has come and you will finally understand what it is that I'm talking about."
And then, much to Kirito's concern, the hologram would glitch slightly, making the Doctor grimace as knew that his time for communicating Kirito was running out.
"Oh dear, I suppose time is almost up. Listen to me, Kirito, whatever happens, stay strong, try to stay alive, and don't ever, ever give up, no matter what. And when the time is right, be the hope of this world and of the people around you, and even if dark moments come, know that you are not alone, even if it may seem so."
And just like that, the Doctor would disappear with a sad smile of "good luck" on his face and the icon from the main menu would disappear as well as if it were never there, leaving Kirito to ponder what had just occurred while not having been able to utter a single word and was only rendered speechless. First, he noticed that the Doctor told him an ominous warning that set him on edge. The entire world is in a state of panic? People getting sent to nearby hospitals? Just what on earth is going on here? And what did had to do with what was going on outside?
As far as Kirito can remember, there is a certain thing to be kept in mind whenever the Doctor is giving ominous warnings like that. For one, the Doctor is not human, not even close. He is an alien, from a civilization that may as well be likened to gods, with advanced technology that would make even Sword Art Online look antiquated and crass. For two, one needs to listen to every single detail that the Doctor would say. It was in fact sometimes the only logical option to get yourself out alive.
Because the thing about the Doctor is that he is probably the only being, one of the noteworthy ones, standing between Earth(s) and Humanity(s), plural for emphasis, and whatever eldritch abomination that is quietly festering around the corner. Think of every worst nightmare that you could think of in your world such as ghosts, slashers, monsters, demons, and other nasties. Then think further of the worst nightmares that you can think of in relation to beings from beyond the stars and from beyond even the normal eleventh-dimensional universe and from outside of the known reality altogether.
The Doctor charges right at them. Sometimes it's just uncovering a conspiracy, or resolving a war before it starts, but sometimes...sometimes it's so much worse. Some things he fights, no one can't protect you from. Some things even he can not protect you from. They're just too big, too scary, too fast, too clever, or too sneaky.
The Doctor comprehends time on a fundamental level that even Kirito with all his knowledge can't even begin to explain. He just knows things, and get's them instinctively to the point of not needing to consult the latest quantum theories or historical anachronisms. He can modify and remodify stuff ala Rube Goldberg with such ease and degree that it's just downright impressive and horrifying. One past incident that Kirito can recall was when the Doctor, when he had a different face, changed the history of an entire nation with only six words and only needed that many because he didn't want to use a contraction. He's sentenced people, species, and worlds to death; life, annihilation, obliteration, and carried it out as easily as you'd throw an empty juice box into a recycling bin. He will always be right in the right place at the right time. He is the man who pickpocket the nail, that went on the horse's shoe, that belonged to the general's horse, that fought in the critical battle, that decided the fate of all of England."
He was Earth's and Humanity's Greatest Protector and Defender.
To those who admired and respected him, he was known as the Lonely God and the Wandering God among many other titles.
To those who fear him and rightly so, he was known as the Destroyer of Worlds and the Oncoming Storm among many other titles.
If the Doctor was subtly warning him about what is about to happen without making it too obvious, then Kirito can probably make out the rest from what he had learned after all this time.
That what is happening right now is going to be a major part of the history books. And not the best kind either.
And so, Kirito felt the need to head back to the city in a hurry. He needed to find out what is happening right now. And so, he dashed and didn't think of stopping as his heart palpitates in a subtle hint of dread.
And so he did...
After catching up with Klein, standing as one of the gathering crowd of individuals who were just as confused as to what is happening as many among them were ceremoniously teleported from their respective locations as the sound of a ringing tone that reminded one of a church bell was heard, Kirito noticed something as he looked up, about one hundred meters.
When he looked closely, he could see that the pattern was made up of two phrases crisscrossing each other: the words [Warning] and [System Announcement] written in red. However, instead of the tension decreasing as much as the rest, including Klein, he knew that this wouldn't be a sign of comfort to him. This was it. This was what the Doctor warned him about. It was now coming just as he said. And Kirito would anticipate the red-hooded individual next.
From the middle of the pattern, a liquid that looked like blood started oozing down slowly. It came down at a rate that almost emphasized how viscous it was, but it didn't fall all the way down; instead, it started congealing into a shape. What appeared was a twenty-meter-tall figure with a hooded robe draped around it. No, that wasn't exactly right. From where everyone was looking, they could easily see into the hood—there was no face. It was absolutely empty. They could clearly see the inner cloth and the green embroidery inside of the hood. It was the same inside the robe, all they could see inside the edges were shadows.
Kirito had seen that robe before. It was the same clothing that the Argus employees who worked as GMs during the beta test had always worn. But back then, the male GMs had a face like an old sorcerer with a long beard and the females had an avatar of a bespectacled girl. They might have used the robe because they lacked time to prepare a proper avatar, but the empty space inside the hood was already contributing to his unexplainable feeling of anxiety. Kirito thought that the countless players around me must have felt the same, but they weren't warned about this ahead unlike Kirito. He knew because the Doctor warned him that this would come to pass. Now all he can do is wait for the unexplainable warning.
"Is that a GM?"
"Why does it have no face?"
There were a lot of whispers like these. Then the right sleeve of the huge robe moved as if to silence them. A pure white glove appeared from the folds of the long sleeve. But this sleeve, like the rest of the robe, didn't cover any sort of body. The left sleeve slowly lifted upwards, too. Then, with its two empty gloves spread out in front of ten thousand players, the faceless person opened his mouth—no, it felt like it did. A low, calm, male voice resonated from high in the air.
"Attention players, I welcome you all to my world."
Kirito begins to think deeply about what had been said.
My world? If that red robe was a GM, it certainly had godlike powers in this world enabling him to change the world at will, but why was he pointing that out now? He and Klein looked at each other, the latter was dumbfounded while Kirito was grim. The anonymous red robe lowered its arms and continued talking.
"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the only person who is able to control this world."
"("What...!?")"
Kirito was rigid with shock, and a lump formed in its throat (and perhaps my throat back in the real world as well) for a second.
Akihiko Kayaba.
Kirito knew that name. There was no way that he didn't. This person, both a game designer and a genius in the field of quantum physics, was the one responsible for raising Argus (which was just one of many small companies a few years ago) into one of the leading companies in its field. He was also the development director of SAO and, at the same time, the designer of the NerveGear.
As a hardcore gamer, Kirito had a level of respect for Kayaba, sometimes even making comparisons regarding to the similarities and differences between this man and a certain billionaire playboy philanthropist with a red-golden suit of armor who was Kirito's mentor. Kirito remembered having bought all the magazines that featured him and read his few interviews until he knew them all by heart. In fact, in certain secret classes that he had taken up without his parents and sister noticing, he was the one who usually recited them without even the need to check.
But he had always stayed behind the scenes, refusing media exposure. He had never even been a GM, so why was he doing something like this?
And that was the question that made him stop his mental tracks as a slowly budding horrific thought entered his mind.
"("No...No, it can't be...")"
Was Kayaba related to what is happening right now in the real world? Was this what the Doctor was trying to warn him about?
And the next few words that came out of the empty hood seemed to confirm his suspicions.
"I'm sure that most of you have already discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system," he said as he begins to swipe his left hand and a few buttons begin to appear.
"Part of... the system?" Klein muttered brokenly.
Kirito was grinding his teeth in subtle frustration. He didn't like what was being implied. He was well familiar with the concept of virtual prisons. Was this what's happening now? Trapped like rats in a cage that separated their mind and soul from their bodies?
The announcement continued in its low ominous voice as if to cover the sound.
"You cannot log out of SAO of your own volition. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."
Everyone was in shock. Kirito on the other hand was silent as his eyes narrowed at the hooded figure at such a callous announcement. Klein, shocked as the rest, raised his right hand slowly and tried to grasp the headgear that would be situated there in the real world. As he did, he let out a dry laugh and started talking.
"Haha... what's he saying? That man, has he gone nuts? He's not making any sense. The NerveGear... It's just a game. Destroy our brain... How is he going to do that? Right, Kirito?"
"("No...it's no longer a game...not anymore...")" Kiritio thought grimly as he continued to stare at the hooded figure.
This was a death game. The concept of a death game is simple: a group of people compete for their lives, and there is (generally) only one survivor—everyone else dies.
Looking back at the epitomes of history can give one an answer to the various questions of how and why. One need not go too far as one can start from the history of Earth.
Humans have always had an odd obsession with watching others fight for their amusement—Roman gladiators are a perfect example of this. Two armed combatants would fight to the death for the entertainment of thousands of eager spectators. This practice phased out with the passage of time, but people still craved violent displays, so they turned to blood sports involving animals like bullfighting and dogfighting. Nowadays, bullfighting is considered ethically questionable, dogfighting is illegal in most major countries and they certainly aren't looking to revive gladiator fights anytime soon. Yet, instead, they have contact sports like wrestling, boxing, fencing, and martial arts that provide the same entertainment value without all the bloodshed. Since people enjoy watching physical—and sometimes lethal—displays of power, death game media can provide a wondrous form of entertainment.
However, the concept of a death game need not be restricted to the world of fictional entertainment. In fact, the real world can be viewed through the perspective of a death game scenario. The cut-throat society does not require us to survive deadly physical contests, but it is instead dominated by a series of zero-sum games, where one person wins and the other loses. A timely example of this is the anxiety-inducing college admissions process that people endured to obtain a prestigious letter of admission from a high-standard university; although the stakes certainly aren't life or death, they are potentially life-changing—one person's college dreams are fulfilled, while another's are brutally crushed. Real-life examples like these aren't nearly as macabre as the bloody scenarios we encounter in fictional media, but they certainly aren't any less ruthless; death games in fiction provide an extension, albeit an extreme one, of these societal struggles.
But if death games are in fact an extension of a brutal dog-eat-dog society, why would anyone want to watch them? Isn't the point of popular media to escape from the troubles of the real world? The answer to this question lies in humanity's competitive nature. People really don't like to lose, so when they are placed in a contest where only one person can be victorious, they do their utmost to win. Spectators show their competitive spirit as well by investing all of their efforts into rooting for participants—they may even bet on who they believe will win. Because of this all-around competitive spirit, there is nothing more disappointing than a contest without a winner. Similarly, when a contest ends prematurely, the participants' efforts are essentially wasted, and the audience doesn't get closure.
Ultimately, death games are a fascination because one feels the need to see the final outcome. One may be disgusted by their scenarios, but once people are lured in, there would be a certain level of investment and hope for the survival of the participators. Sometimes, one can even relate to them: the competitors could be mere teenagers seeking to make their family and friends proud; others, though they often exhibit what people consider to be unrealistic tropes, are just high school students who want to return to their normal lives; then there are other contestants who are impoverished debtors who want to turn their lives around for themselves and for their families. Because there is a form of becoming hopelessly attached, even if they die horrifically and the feeling of devastation settled in, we keep watching anyway. Because every game, no matter how brutal, needs to have a winner—even a game of life and death.
And now, Kirito begins to think about how this "death" for the player would come about.
The countless signal transceivers in the NerveGear's helmet emitted small electromagnetic pulses to send virtual signals to the brain. They might call this the newest ultra-technology, but the basic theory was the same as a certain household appliance that's been used for over 40 years in Japan—the microwave. If there was sufficient output, it was possible that the NerveGear would vibrate the water particles in our brains and cook them with the heat from the friction. But...
"...theoretically it's possible. Normally speaking, if one were to pull the plug on the NerveGear, there's no way it can emit a strong pulse of that type. Unless there's some form of battery with a huge storage capability inside..."
Klein already guessed the reason why Kirito had stopped talking.
"There... is," he said, his words almost a scream with a hollow expression on his face. "Thirty percent of the gear's weight is in the battery. But...that's totally crazy! What if there was a sudden power outage or something!?"
And in answer to that question, at the same time, Kayaba was speaking.
"To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the NerveGear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through the mass media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where families or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the NerveGear. The result..."
Multiple screens were conjured up, showing what appeared to be happening in the real world, showing hard proof of what Kayaba had been specifying as Kirito sees multiple friends and families grieving at the horrendous sight of losing their loved ones along with many news channels detailing the exact current situation that is now taking place which has shaken the entire world. Some of the news in fact were now comparing this incident to the 9/11 terrorist attacks which had happened so many years prior. Nations and governments throughout the world were responding to this crisis as many of their citizens are effectively being held hostage by a 'mad man' to quote a few of the news channels. By random coincidence, Kirito happens to turn his attention to one of the screens and sees...
"("...Suguha...Kaa-san...")" Kirito widened his eyes in worry as he sees his grieving younger sister who was crying, with his mother right beside her who was also holding her tears back. His face made an angered expression, his fists clenching as he looks at Kayaba.
"...As you can see, news organizations throughout the world are reporting on this situation, including the multiple deaths..."
A long, thin scream was heard. But most of the players couldn't or refused to believe what they had been told, and just stood there slack-jawed or with a wry smile on their faces. Kirito glances at Klien who was now falling by his backside, his expression utterly lifeless.
213 players have been estimated to have perished already. This was it. The warning that the Doctor tried to convey.
"...don't believe it... I don't believe it," Klein, still sitting on the ground, started saying in a strained voice. "He's just trying to scare us. How would he do such a thing? Stop kidding around and let us out. We don't have time to play along to your sick opening ceremony. Yeah... this is all just an event. An opening show, right?"
Kirito didn't answer if only not to dash Klein's hopes up and continues to listen to the announcement.
"...But players, there is no need for you all to worry about the status of your bodies that you left on the other side. You can assume that the danger of a NerveGear has been greatly reduced. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax...and concentrate on clearing the game. But I want you to be sure to keep this in mind. There is no longer any function to revive someone within the game. The instant your HP drops to zero, your avatars will vanish forever..."
Kayaba said this as the screens all disappeared, leaving only him remaining in the air.
"...And at the same time, your brains will be destroyed by the NerveGear."
Kirito noticed something from the top-left corner of his vision. A long horizontal line shining clearly. He focused on it, the numbers 342/342 overlaid it. Hit points. His life-force. The moment it reaches zero, he will die—the electromagnetic waves will fry his brain, killing me instantaneously. This is what Kayaba had said. This is without a doubt a game, a game with your life at stake. In other words, a death game.
Fortunately for him, he had been trained via his secret classes about how to fight for his life and to keep a cool level head in the direst of situations. But the others all around him were not so fortunate since these people that he sees around him were neither soldiers of war nor heroes who did battle against villains daily even at the risk of their lives, and Kirito secretly belonged to the second category.
Looking back at his training now, Kirito can only swallow his throat which felt a bit too dry. He had unknowingly been training for this his whole life. In simulation battles and in real-life battles that he fights daily, he was always taught by those around him and by personal experience to never be so casual about one's life. For his life just might be his last and that there would be no further continues. If you die, you die for real. That was the dangers that Kirito had faced before. And now, he was facing them again. The only difference is that he was arguably the most experienced out of everyone else. And now...
"...And when the time is right, be the hope of this world and of the people around you, and even if dark moments come, know that you are not alone, even if it may seem so."
The Doctor's words echoed in his head.
A tremendous weight of responsibility was now entrusted onto his shoulders. The lives of at least six thousand people and then some are now on his hands. To be clear, it would be accurate to say that he is the only superhero available from the inside of this death game. And that...terrified him. He was no leader and didn't consider himself as such. Except...
"...Nothing in our lives is easy, Kazuto. Hell, there could be a time when we are the only ones left to really be able to respond to the damn mess brought about by some sick freak with a twisted sense of humor, maybe a time when you're the only one left remaining to respond and no one else is around to help you. You're on your own and what do you do with it? You soldier on. You keep carrying on. You keep fighting, even when the going get's tough. And you do not let the sick bastard win. Cause one thing I know is this. No one get's left behind..."
"...No one get's left behind," Kirito muttered at the same time as a distant memory came flashing by him. He remembered someone that was an older brother figure in his life. Heck, this person was an older brother figure for a lot of people.
An image of a young man was being thought of by Kirito in relation to this older brother figure. A young man wearing a black stylized domino mask and a uniform comprised of a red vest held closed by three yellow rectangular fasteners on the front, black leggings, boots, and gloves, all of which seemed to be made of a sort of protective body armor that still allowed him great mobility. On the left side of his chest, he had a yellow stylized "R" symbol in a black circle that acts as a holographic communication projector, and around his waist, he wore a yellow utility belt with pouches for his various equipment. He wore a cape over his shoulders that was black on the outside, with an attached hood, and pale yellow on the inside.
Kirito closed his eyes and breathes in and out, bowing his head in silence out of respect for this older brother figure that had passed away a long time ago in one snowy December in the mountains of Sarajevo. The announcing voice continues on as the ten thousand players remained silent and glued to the announcement.
"Players, there is only one way to be freed from this game," Kayaba said as he conjured up a map that detailed several of the floors that reminded one of a large "castle". This "castle" meant the huge monstrosity that imprisoned all of the players on the first floor, with ninety-nine more floors stacked on top of it, towering into the sky in which it floated. He was talking about Aincrad itself. "You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next stage. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game," he said as the map disappeared.
"Don't just make stuff up!" one of the players in the crowd, a male player with a yellowish-green shirt and vest exclaimed.
"Clear...all 100 floors!?" Klein suddenly shouted. He got up quickly and raised a fist up to the sky. "That's impossible! Even the beta testers never made it that high, right?!"
This was true. During the two months of beta testing, the one thousand players that had taken part only managed to get to the sixth floor. Even if ten thousand people had dived right now, how long would it take to get through all 100 floors? Most players who had been forced here would be asking themselves this rhetorical question.
The strained silence eventually gave way to low murmuring. But there was no sign of fear or despair. Most people here would still be confused about whether this was a real danger or a seriously warped opening event. Everything Kayaba had said was so horrifying that it felt unreal.
One can no longer log out. One can no longer go back to their former life. The only way that one would get them back was when somebody defeated the boss on the highest floor of this floating castle. If one's HP reached zero even once during that time—one would die. One would die a real death and I would be gone forever. And the people were divided on these personal issues of life and death from the very beginning as Kirito, with his eyes still closed and his head bowed down, listened to every single one of them.
Just five or six hours ago, Kirito had eaten the meal that his mom made, shared a short conversation with his sister, then walked up the stairs of the house. Now as of this moment, he can no longer get back to that. Not now. Not ever. He couldn't even make contact with the rest of his friends who are out there. As far as he knew, the Doctor was the only one truly aware of what is happening. But the possibility for help may still be there, no matter how dim. Because the Doctor knows. And if the Doctor knows, there could be help arriving.
How long would that take? Kirito didn't know. He just needed to listen to his heart and focus on the present moment. Life or death dangers were nothing new to the young man. This was new, no doubt about it. But Kirito didn't fear death so much as feared the consequences that came after. If he dies, what would his parents feel? How would his sister feel? What would everyone else feel? He cannot die, not now, not ever. He doesn't want to be a cause for sadness. He will fight this madness, even when it seems like he is alone in the battlefield.
"Now then," Kayaba continued on, ignoring the voices of outrage. "I've provided you all with a gift in your item storage. Please see for yourselves."
As soon as Kirito heard this, he opened his eyes, full of determination and resolve, and pressed his finger and thumb together and pulled downwards. All the players did likewise and the plaza was filled with the ringing sound of bells. He pressed the Item button on the menu that appeared and the item was there, at the top of my belongings list.
The name of the item—«Hand Mirror»
Why did he give this to us? Even as Kirito wondered, he tapped on the name and pressed the "Make Into Object" button. Immediately, there was a tinkling sound effect and a small, rectangular mirror appeared. He grabbed it hesitantly but nothing happened. All that it showed was the face of the avatar that he had gone through a lot of trouble to create. Kirito cocked his head and looked at Klein. The samurai was also looking at the mirror in his hand with a blank expression.
...Then.
Suddenly Klein and the avatars around us were engulfed in white light. As soon as Kirito took this in, he was surrounded too and all he could see was white. Almost 2, 3 seconds later, the surroundings reappeared just as they had been...
No.
The face in front of Kirito wasn't the one he'd gotten used to. The armor made of metal plates laced together, the bandana, and the spiky red hair were all the same. But the face had changed into another shape altogether. His long, sharp eyes had become sunken and shone brighter. His delicate and high nose had become hooked, and a slight beard now appeared on his cheeks and chin. If the avatar had been a young and carefree samurai, this one was a fallen warrior—or maybe a bandit.
Kirito didn't say a word and only stared at this person in surprise.
"Hey...who're you?" the man in front of him asked.
Then Kirito was gripped by a sudden foreboding and realized what Kayaba's present, the Hand Mirror, meant. He raised the mirror in a rush, and the face stared back at him.
Black hair lay neatly over the head, two weak-looking eyes could be seen beneath the slightly long hair, and a delicate face that made people mistake me for a girl even now when I go out in casual clothes with my sister. The calm face of a warrior that Kirito had even a few seconds ago was no longer there. The face that was in the mirror...was his actual face.
"Ah... it's me..."
Klein, who had been also staring at his mirror, fell backwards. He looked back at Kirito and shouted.
"You're Kirito!?"
"...Yeah," Kirito slowly muttered, semi-lost in his train of thought.
The voices had changed too. Perhaps the voice modulators had stopped working. That's one possibility that Kirito could see. The mirrors suddenly fell from their hands and hit the ground. Then were destroyed with a soft, smashing sound.
When Kirito looked around again, the crowd was no longer filled with people who looked like characters from a fantasy game. A bunch of normal-looking young people had now taken their place. It was like something you'd see if you gathered a bunch of people in real life at a game show venue and dressed them up in armor. Distressingly, even the sex ratio had changed greatly.
Kirito and Klein, and most probably all the players around them, had changed from the avatars that we'd created from nothing to our real selves. Of course, the texture itself still seemed like a polygon model and it still felt slightly strange, but it was almost frighteningly accurate. It was as if the gear had a full-body scanner on it.
—Scan.
"...Ah, right..."
Kirito looked at Klein and found his voice.
"There are high-density signal sensors in the NerveGear covering our whole head. So it can tell not only how our brains look, but our faces too..."
"B-But, how can it know what our bodies look like...Like how tall we are?" Klein said more silently glancing from side to side at our surroundings.
The average height of the players, who were now looking at their own and others' faces with various expressions on their faces, had been noticeably reduced after the change.
Kirito and Klein had set the height to equal that of their height in the real world to prevent their extra height from hindering their movements. But most players seemed to have made themselves taller by about ten to twenty centimeters. That wasn't all. The actual build and the girth of the players had become larger too. One may probably asked: There was no way that the NerveGear would have been able to know all this.
Except...Klein was the one who answered this question.
"Ah... wait. I bought the NerveGear just yesterday so I remember. There was a part of the set-up... what was it called, calibration? Well anyway, during that bit you touched your body here and there, maybe it was that...?"
"Probably," Kirito nodded.
Calibration was where the NerveGear measured how much you had to move your hand to reach your body. This was done to reproduce the sense of movement accurately within the game. So to say, it was almost as if the NerveGear had data about our exact body shapes saved inside was possible, making all the avatars of the players an almost perfect polygon replica of themselves. The purpose of this was also almost too clear now.
"...Reality," Kirito muttered. "He said that this was reality. That this polygon avatar... and our HP was our real body and our real life. In order to make us believe this, he's produced a perfect copy of us..."
"But...But y'know Kirito."
Klein scratched his head roughly and the eyes beneath his bandana shone as he shouted.
"Why? Why the hell's he doing something like this...?"
Kirito didn't answer that and pointed upwards past their heads.
"Wait a moment. Most likely, he'll answer that in a bit anyway."
A few seconds later a voice, sounding almost solemn, sounded from the blood red sky.
"Right now, you must all probably be wondering, "Why." Why am I—the creator of both the NerveGear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko—doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us? These are not the reasons why I am doing this. Not only that, but for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason...To create this world and enjoy watching it. And now, all is complete."
Kirito narrowed his eyes at that.
"This concludes the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. I have one last warning for you. This may be a game, but it's not something you play. I wish you luck, players."
This last sentence trailed off with a faint echo. The huge robe rose soundlessly and started sinking, hood first, into the system message that covered the sky, as if melting. Its shoulders, then its chest, then its two arms and legs merged into the red surface, and then a final red stain spread briefly. Right afterward, the system message that had covered the sky disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The sound of the wind blowing above the plaza and the BGM that the NPC orchestra was playing came softly to our ears. The game had returned to its normal state, apart from the fact that a couple of rules had been changed.
Then—at last.
The crowd of ten thousand players gave a proper reaction. In other words, countless voices started resounding loudly through the plaza.
"It's a joke right...? The hell is this? It's a joke right!?"
"Stop kidding around! Let me out! Let me out of here!"
"No! You can't! I've got to meet someone soon!"
"I don't like this! I'm gonna go home! I want to go home!"
Yells. Clamors. Shouts. Curses. Begging. Screaming.
The people that had changed from game players to prisoners in a matter of minutes crouched clutching their heads, waved their arms about, grasped each other or started to swear loudly.
In the midst of all this noise, my mind can only promise one thing.
"("...I'll find a way...Somehow, I need to find a way to stop this...Before more people die...")"
And Kirito only looked at Klein who was showing an expression of frustration and horror at this situation. He grabbed Klein's arm, saying. "Klein, come here for a second."
One thing for certain, this would end up being a very long journey for one Black Swordsman. But the Black Swordsman was known by another name. And it is one that he had even before stepping into this game.
Graphite Edge.
Somewhere in the interior of the space-time ship called the TARDIS, there was the main control room.
A hexagonal console with instruments resembling a typewriter, a telegraph, a gramophone, a set of hot and cold taps, and a view-screen made by Magpie Electricals. A larger, circular, secondary view screen was set into one of the walls. There was also a swing located under the glass floor that anyone could sit on for the sake of convenience when providing maintenance to the ship. The railings originally were round barred and gold in color.
The Doctor was currently looking at every single holographic screen that was now present in all directions, hovering in a circular pattern. His expression was grim, his blue-green eyes were narrowed, and his arms were crossed. Accompanying him from both sides were companions of his, Amy Pond and Rory Williams, who were just as concerned as the Doctor since one of the Doctor's students and honorary companions, Kazuto Kirigaya, is trapped along with thousands of other individuals in a game that could spell their life and death.
Along with Amy Pond and Rory Williams, there were the other companions, five young men that the Doctor all grouped together as the Jack Of All Trades (JOATs) of Team TARDIS: Touma Kamijou, Shinichi Kudo, Kyon, Sota Mizushino, and Lelouch vi Britannia. Most of them were young middle school students from the second (Touma and Lelouch) and third years (Shinichi and Sota) while only one of them (Kyon) was already somewhere around his first year of high school. Like the rest, they were concerned, some of whom were horrified at what is now occurring in Kirito's world.
"We're saving them," the Doctor muttered softly with a firm determination, looking to the left and to the right, eyeing each one of his companions. "We're saving them all."
They all nodded. There were no disagreements here and the feelings are more than mutual.
"Alright raggedy man," Amy smiled, with arms crossed. "What's the plan?"
The Doctor grimly smiled. "They always say that history is not perfect, that it can be moved around, tricked even. This time would be no different."
"You already figured out a way to save the ones who supposedly died, haven't you?" Lelouch smirked with arms crossed.
"Yes," the Doctor simply said as he begins to move around the console and started the engines by pressing several buttons, pulling some levers, and pressing the main lever.
Vworp Vworp Vworp
The engines would soon come alive as the TARDIS now floats through the endless Time Vortex. In the meantime, the Doctor begins to discuss his plan with his companions while driving the ship.
"Now according to the historical records of Kazuto's Earth where I would be providing some needed spoilers now, so you lot should better take some mental notes when the time comes to send most of you on the ground, Sword Art Online has claimed an estimated four thousand people over the ten thousand that are stuck there. Now obviously we can't go back and forth in time and grab every single one of them physically here in the TARDIS or prevent the event outright, but there is a way to save them."
"And how do we do that...exactly?" Rory asked.
"Basically, Rory, it's all about the process of mentally connecting their minds and souls and catch them just by a few mere nanoseconds after their death. And that would have to involve making use of one of those nice little pods that I modified for personal use that I've been working on for the past few weeks from my perspective, somewhere down the med-bay I believe."
"We're going to use the Soul Diffusion Generator, aren't we?" Kyon bluntly said, with arms crossed.
What was Kyon even talking about?
The Soul Diffusion Generator is a human-sized silver pod that has multiple in-built functions installed within its primary and secondary software, all located in the med-bay of the TARDIS. One of those functions details the area of time scooping an individual's timeline from a precise moment in time, doesn't matter what property whether if it is the physical body or of the spiritual soul, and transports them directly via materialization. And if it were merely through a mental passage via virtual remodeling, then it can also be done, and the device can provide a newly built physical body with flesh, bone, etc. that would more or less be the same as the old body, just healthier and more efficient if you had ailments in the past.
"Yes, yes we are," the Doctor said with a jolly-old smile. However, the smile turned grave for a bit. "Still, considering how seismic this event can be and to prevent things from getting worst off, I may as well need to visit and make contact with a few old friends out there. Like Tony for instance, he would need to be informed that one of his own proteges is stuck in a death game. I'd also need to bring in Tron to our escapades since I have no doubt that he would worry for one of his top students."
"Doctor, I know that look. There's something else that's bothering you besides whatever this Kayaba person had done to Kazuto and everyone else on his world," Amy gave the Doctor a look that made the latter stop for a few moments and sighed.
"It's...Look, Sword Art Online is one of those events that can never, ever be changed by one recorded line," the Doctor tried to explain.
"Yes, we already know that, Doctor, but you said that we can change the deaths of that event without even needing to change history so I just don't see the point of worrying too much about it," Amy nudged him to continue on.
"But that's the thing, I just want to make sure that things run smoothly this time around in case something unpredictable happens," the Doctor said, grave and serious.
"Oh come on, Doctor, what could be honestly be worse than what is happening with Kazuto and the others down there? What, you think the Silence would show up or something?" Amy said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's not the Silence that I'm worried about, Amy. It's something else, and I only hope that I'm merely wrong by about 99%," the Doctor grimly.
"What about the 1%?" Rory asked, noting the part that was left out.
"That I can think of several things that can go wrong just by that one percent of probability which is why we need to plan this very carefully. Real human lives are on the line, Kazuto's world is basically being held hostage by the numbers of people that got dragged in, and plenty can go wrong in this event," the Doctor explained.
Vworp Vworp Vworp
There is the first stop that the TARDIS would stop and it would have to be in another universe, on an Earth designated as MV Earth-616, a world full of superheroes. The Doctor steps out and reveals his grave face to none other than a man with a business suit and a goatee. He was with a few other people who were in the room. His wife and thirteen-year-old daughter for instance are included among them.
The man that is being visited was none other than Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, also known as Iron Man.
"Doctor?" Stark said, surprised. "This is quite a sudden visit."
"Tony, I need your help. It's about Kazuto," the Doctor grimly said.
And that was all that Tony would need to hear.
Vworp Vworp Vworp
There is the second stop that the TARDIS would stop and it would have to be a place called the Grid, an artificial digital universe constructed by a brilliant and gifted computer programmer. The Doctor steps out and reveals his grave face to none other than a man with a dark blue streamlined full-body armored suit. There were four blue dots from the topmost center of the neckline.
The man that is being visited was none other than Tron.
"Doctor?" Tron immediately recognized the Time Lord, but noted the grim expression on his face.
"Tron, old friend, I have a question to ask. Do you still feel the desire to defend and fight for the users?" the Doctor asked with a serious tone.
"I do," Tron said unhesitatingly with a concerned expression. He didn't need to question why the Doctor asked. Something grave must have happened and that he can guess that his assistance is more than required.
"Good, because you better come with me, there's plenty of users that need saving right now, Kazuto being one of them," the Doctor said.
And that was all that Tron needed to hear.
Somewhere from a faraway location in an unknown universe, there was the presence of a utopian citadel and an impenetrable fortress made out of the most powerful metals in existence, all located in the artificially constructed replica, almost perfect in design that accompanied both an air of mysticism and a cold-hearted logic reflecting a desire for beauty. A reflection of the Realm Eternal—Asgard, a flat, asteroid-like mass that has a top surface with a gravitational pull, once straight out of myth and legend, only turned into a technological utopia that kept the surroundings with a few additions. Each of the Nine Realms, complexified universes of their own, made in the image of metal and logic and sophistry.
This was but one part of what is known as the Ultronic Territories. Artificially created territories that were built out of many countless universal clusters, heavily fortified with impenetrable barriers that could not just be entered or penetrated by enemy attack, and also allowed for this particular realm to be hidden from most people. Some may perhaps say that this realm was located in the Unknown Regions of the Multiverse, a vast sectorial expanse of uncharted territory where one could get lost if you don't know what you're doing.
Here lies in the heart of the grand organ shape fortress a being of immense power. His appearance was grand and tall, measuring at least 6′9″ (2.06 m), majestic and befitting like a king. There was a red cape attached to its back and silver chrome body armor with gold and red lines overlayed. A jack-o-lantern face with six red photoreceptors and a red grin-like mouth. He was holding a powerful modified double-headed spear with his left hand in a stand-up position.
Accompanying this being from all sides were tall silver chrome sentinel-like beings with bulky armor with little spikes on their shoulders all the way down to the back part of their hands.
The being's jack-o-lantern mouth glowed ominously as it muttered.
"And so the game of life and death begins...and another pawn (Graphite Edge) would move from the chessboard..."
For Akihiko Kayaba was not the only threat that Kirito needed to worry about. Something worst from Kirito's and many people's past was about to subtly make his presence felt in Kirito's world. At the proper mode of time of course. He's not going to reveal himself immediately. He has a certain date in mind for that. The question remains...
Will Kirito's world survive his wrath?
Insert Song: End
OP Song:
Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Official Video - 1983)
Incarnation(s)/Regeneration(s) of the Doctor:
The Eleventh Doctor - A: Matt Smith
Main Companion Protagonists:
Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe
Shinichi Kudo/Night Baron - VA: Kappei Yamaguchi
Kyon - VA: Tomokazu Sugita
Sota Mizushino/Kamen Rider Decade - VA: Daiki Yamashita
Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero - VA: Jun Fukuyama
Main Story Character:
Kazuto Kirigaya/Kazuto Narusaka/Kirito/Graphite Edge - VA: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
DW TV and EU Companions:
Amelia Jessica "Amy" Pond - A: Karen Gillan
Rory Arthur Williams - A: Arthur Darvill
New Characters:
Suguha Kirigaya/Leafa - VA: Ayana Taketatsu
Midori Kirigaya - VA: Aya Endo
Ryoutarou Tsuboi/Klein - VA: Hirata Hiroaki
Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark/Iron Man - VA: Robert Downey Jr.
Tron - A: Bruce Boxleitner
Jason Peter Todd/Robin (teenager) - A: Vincent Martella
Akihiko Kayaba- VA: Koichi Yamadera
Ultron - A: Tom Kane